Skirt hanger



I June "10, 1969 l. v. sNow SKIRT l lANG ER Filed Nov. 6, 1967 Fig./

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ABSTRACT or 'fiiSCLosURE pact and convenient, lends itself to feasible but reliable usage in limited quarters nd'places difiicult of access.

This invention relates to a garme nt hanger which is expressly; but not necessarily, designed :and'gstructur'aH adapted to suspenda skirt in its naturalposition 'and wherein, to the ends desired, it'is equipped with a pair of companion pivotally adjustable spring-biased clasps which grip the waistb'a'nd"and sustain it'in a "straight linewi'th= out stretching'the material outof shape. 2'

As will be hereinafter more clearly evident, it is the general objective of the inst-antconcept to provide a hanger wherein the coacting component parts-are oriented and coordinated in close-coupled relationship in a manner to insure compactness and convenience, to conserve space, reduce the likelihood of wrinkling to an appreciable minimum, to accommodatingly support single or multiple garments, and to suspend the supported garment with a minimum of exposure.

Briefly, the hook unit is formed from a suitable rod bent upon itself toprovide a hook to hang over a pole or other support and a companion depending shank, headed at its lower end. The lower headed end portion is swivelly mounted in a vertical sleeve constituting a component of a onepiece sheet metal or equivalent coupling unit. The lower portion of the coupling unit is fashioned into a complemental horizontal sleeve which constitutes a bearing. The bearing serves to accommodate the median shaft portion of a substantially S-shaped balanced rod which constitutes a self-leveling bracket. The shaft portion is cradled and mounted for limited angular rotation in the bearing sleeve. The respective free end portions of the bracket are in a plane common with each other and with the shaft portion and are in close spaced parallel relationship. These terminal end portions constitute journals and the paired ears of the opposed closely related twin waistband clasps are pivotally mounted on the journals.

Novelty is predicated on swivelly mounting the lower end of a headed shank in a vertical sleeve part of a dual sleeve coupler and, more particularly on the use of the horizontal sleeve as a bearing for the shaft portion of a self-leveling rod-type clasp-equipped bracket.

Additional novelty is predicated on the bracket, which is fashioned from a length of rod stock, wherein the median portion provides the mounting and rocking. shaft and wherein the oppositely directed lateral free end portions provide mounting members for the spring-biased close-coupled clasps.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter 3,448,903 liste s! June 19. 49

described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanyingldrawingsformingsa-part hereoflwherein. like numerals. referttoltlikea partsflhroughoutat and inawhichz l-FIG..il is a :view in. perspectivezshowing: the improved multipurpose. garment. hanger-sand how.- it ;isxconstructed, is l hungt ifor -example', .fromga clothescloset .garmentzpole and.:.how i -the skirt-Tis vdoubledzifor -.comp actness... and the waistband 'i's convenientlylclamped byllheopposed close.- cou-pled clasps. e s FIGMZ 'isan end elevational view on a larger scale of the hanger'byitself; .-.I; 4:5 5.1-1:, 1; FIG. ,3 is: at'view similar to FIG. 2 but at right angles thefto and 'lwitha-portio'n of the'iclasp aLthe riglit'broken away'andshowninsectionaf .l. 1. "AndsFIG. 4 is adetail view taken pproximately on the pla'ne bf the section'line 44 of FIG. 3 -looking in the dierection of the arrows..-.. By-way of introduction to the description of the details it is'L-tO be pointed out-that the twin clas'p hanger. can be ideally used to support "skirts. It functions-toallow' the skirt todrape andfall in its natural position;-(much-as'it does when-being worn). It permits the. waistband. to be held leveLandin a straight line without the likelihood of thefabric 'o'r'lmat'erial' stretching it'selfiout of-ashapeii In f'actfif-achieves'.thedesired' result so Swell that the possi 'bility of'w'rinkling'lis r'educe'd'to la minimum. Accordingly, there is no needrto press'ones skirts'after'each wearing.

in 1 ?the relatively stationary support means .comprises a clothes closet garment pole A..'I:he"suspended garm'e'nt comprises "a'skir t"B.1which:is shown folded upon 'itself in'order'to' locate the waistband 'C for 'supported'us'e inthemanner illustrated: The "over-all"5gar'ment hanger comprises the aforementio'iied upper-=u'nit16; coupling-means Sit-bracket means '10 andduplicatecompanion-*spring-biased clasps or. clips 12 and :Jngm. =1 5;;2 I: :1 1 '1 With reference in particular to the unit 6 this is formed from a suitable length of rod which is bent upon itself to provide a hook 16 and a depending straight shank 18 having a headed lower end 20 as shown best in FIG. 4. The lower end portion of the shank is operatively connected to the coupling unit or means 8 which is preferably made from sheet metal or equivalent sheet material. This means comprises (FIG. 4) a split sleeve 22 which is vertically disposed and which swivelly mounts the lower headed end of the shank. The horizontal sleeve 24 provides a bearing and is connected to the sleeve 22 by way of an appropriate triangular or similar apertured web 26.

.With reference now to the bracket 10 this part is formed from a single length of suitable rod stock and it will *be noted that when the rod is completely bent it is substantially S-shaped in plan. It embodies a central straight portion which is defined as a shaft 28 and which 'is mounted for ang-u'lar rotation or oscillation in the bearing sleeve 24. This renders the over-all bracket substantially self-leveling. The respective oppositely directed terminal end portions 30 provide spindles or journals on which the overlapping paired ears 32 are hingedly or pivotally mounted. The clasps are of more or less conventional form and are preferably but not necessarily made from metal and each clasp has paired jaws 34 and upstanding outwardly diverging fingergrips '36 which are normally spread apart by the coiled spring means 38 (FIG. 3). The bends or bent portions which connect the journals 30 with the ends of the shaft 28 are conveniently designated by the numeral 40.

It is reiterated that the headed lower end of the shank 18 is fastened to and-swivelly joined with the coupling means 8 by way of the vertical assembling and swivelling sleeve 22. This permits the hook to be turned at any angle desired depending on the space which is available. It may be desired instead of attaching the hook to a rod A, to simply hang it on a doorknob or any convenient support member (not shown). By cradling the over-all bracket it will be seen that it lends itself to positioning at the desired angle depending on the availability of space and whether the various garments are hung close together or might be subject to wrinkling because of crowded or congested condition-s. Then, too, the fact that the clasps 12 :and 14 are lock-able on their respective members -30 it will be seen that whatever adjustment is necessary is possible. It follows that the hanger we-ll serves the over-all purposes for which it is intended. Accordingly a more extended description is deemed to be unnecessary.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

.1. A garment hanger comprising, in combination, a one-piece rod member bent upon itself between its re spective ends and forming an S shaped bracket, said bracket embodying a centralized shaft portion provided at its respective ends with coplanar oppositely rightangularly disposed complemental end portions, and a pair of like free terminal end portions, said terminal end portions disposed in a plane common with each other as well as said oppositely right angularly disposed end portions and centralized shaft portion and 'being situated in close spaced parallelism on diametrically opposite sides of said centralized shaft portion and providing clasp mounting journals, a pair of like spring-biased dual-jaw clasps operatively mounted on and carried by the respective journals and cooperatively confronting each other and having manually manipulab-le opposed gripping jaws capable of gripping and suspending a garment, a hanger hook for said bracket having :1 depending shank disposed in a plane at right angles to the plane of said bracket, and coupling means interposed between and operatively uniting a lower free end portion of said shank and a balanced median part of said centralized shaft portion.

*2. The garment hanger defined in and according to claim 1 and wherein said coupling means embodies a bearing disposed in a plane below and at right angles to the long axis of said shank, said centralized shaft portion being rotatably mounted in said bearing, whereby said bracket is substantially self-leveling and serves to balance and equalize the reltionship of the respective coplanar clasps for uniform suspension of the clasped garment.

3. The garment hanger defined in and according to claim 2 and wherein said coupling means also embodies an upstanding sleeve constituting a socket member, the lower end of said shank being rotatably operatively mounted in said socket member.

4. The garment hanger defined in and according to claim 3 and wherein said clasps are provided with lateral paired overlapping ears, said ears being connected with and operatively mounted on their respectively coopera'ble journals.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,918,201 12/1959 Marrocco 223- 2,939,588 7/1960 Nalle 21 1-113 3,281,027 10/1966 OKonogi 223-96 XR 3,370,715 2/1968 Koloz-svari 211--119 X'R JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

G. H. KRIZMANICH, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

